Manson cohort and would-be Ford assassin to be paroled

HOUSTON – The Charles Manson follower convicted of trying to assassinate President Gerald Ford in Sacramento is set to be released from a federal prison in Texas this month after serving more than 30 years behind bars.

Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme was a 26-year-old disciple of cult leader Manson when she aimed a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol at Ford in September 1975 in Capitol Park and Secret Service agents grabbed her. Ford wasn't hurt.

Fromme, 60, is set to be paroled Aug. 16 from the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, federal prisons officials said.

Fromme received a life term.

Ford was walking to the Capitol from his hotel when Fromme pushed through the crowd, drew the pistol from a holster on her thigh and pointed it at the president as he shook hands with well-wishers. She was restrained by Secret Service agents who wrestled the gun away from her and led the president to safety.

Less than two weeks later, another would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, fired at Ford in San Francisco but missed.

Fromme served time in at least two other facilities before Carswell.

She escaped from a women's prison in Alderson, W.Va., on Dec. 23, 1987, but was recaptured about two miles away on Christmas Day after a massive search.

She was sentenced to an additional 15 months in prison for the escape.

Fromme had said she escaped from prison to be closer to Manson, who is serving a life term in a California prison for the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and eight others. Fromme, one of his “family” of followers, wasn't implicated in those attacks.